1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to accessing wireless services and locating and mapping wireless access points that provide access to wireless services.
2. Related Art
Various broadband wireless services are commonly used by users of computers, PDA's, phones, etc. Broadband wireless services are commonplace in homes, offices, and other public establishments, such as restaurants, airports, etc. Emerging new applications (portable games, PDAs, WiFi and dual mode phones etc.) raise the need for broadband wireless connectivity on demand and at any location. Additionally, newly developed content applications enrich the user's experience, provided that the user is able to easily access broadband network wirelessly. Examples of such content applications include:
User generated content such as pictures and video (e.g., YouTube, Yahoo etc.);
Video and audio streaming over the Internet;
Video games (e.g., Sony PSP, Nintendo DS); and,
Location awareness applications (e.g., Google Earth, Microsoft Virtual earth etc.).
At present, the availability of broadband wireless connectivity (such as WiFi, WiMAX, etc.) is on the rise thanks to various free radio connections enablers, such as:
Business guest networks, e.g., open networks provided in restaurants, coffee shops, etc.
Office guest networks, e.g., open networks provide in corporations, professional offices, etc.
Municipal networks, e.g., various geographical area networks established by companies such as Cloud, Google, Metrofi etc.
Public Facilities networks, e.g., networks established in conferences, shows, etc. and,
Private home networks, e.g., unsecured AP's (access points), sharing AP's etc., which may have reception range beyond the particular home installing the network.
The common aspect of all these broadband connection opportunities is mediocre service due to, for example, asymmetry between down and uplink (the terminal may not be able to communicate with the AP although it can perfectly hear it); lack of standardization, which often results in connection failures (802.11 specifies only a fraction of the actual connection process); in many cases, the large quantity of WiFi radio resources produces “clutter” that makes finding an accessible source very difficult (“needle in haystack”); switching between networks is a very slow process due to the network parameters setup (IP address, DNS). When operating in heterogeneous environments that necessitate a high rate of AP switching this could be a big issue; connection operations may be complex and cumbersome (security management, captive portals etc.); and, poor geographical coverage due to insufficient radio resources density.
Consequently wireless broadband access using currently available tools still requires substantial amount of patience and expertise. Furthermore, outdoor (i.e., not home or office) operation can become very unsatisfactory. Current solutions aiming to improve the broadband access experience focus mainly on two issues: addressing the “where to find a connection” challenge and automating the connection process. For example, WiFi resources (hot-spots) maps are available through various websites (JiWire, Microsoft, etc.) to enable users to locate AP's. Laptop and WiFi enabled handheld terminals vendors are integrating better WiFi clients (in addition to Windows WZC (wireless zero configuration) service) that may reduce the user intervention in attempting to connect to an AP. For example, one method caches the last used radio connections, so that the cached information can be used in future connection attempts.